I am trying to make a fact based observation of how actual decision making is done, not on what the best decisions to actually make are. My point is that is man

I am trying to make a fact based observation of how actual decision making is done, not on what the best decisions to actually make are. My point is that is many cities cannot afford the capital expenditures, or are unwilling to take them on, but would rather accept the higher operating costs in the long run. I agree that increasing density is a sensible thing to do in general. My point was that the city of San Francisco's specific situation, which must also include political realities may prevent it from taking the best course of action as dictated by all the fields that you mention. After all, we are talking about a country that likes to skimp on infrastructure maintenance costs until they nearly reach disaster situations, and then forced to shell out way more in rushed emergency maintenance, and then rushed infrastructure upgrade - hardly the most sensible decisions.